Cape Town - Every Friday, a group of young boys leave their homes and with great excitement, dash off with pillows, blankets and overnight bags in hand to spend the evening in prayer at their local mosque, Masjiedul Ihlaas in Hanover Park.
The boys, varying in ages, arrive around 8.30 pm, put down their bags and immediately get settled in for the i’tikaf programme.
I’tikaf is an Arabic term, referring to the practice of retreat inside a mosque for a period, in order to spend more time in acts of worship.
The boys receive a warm meal, voluntarily cooked by one of the parents, and spend the evening in prayers and activities such as Sunnah (prophetic custom) sports, such as wrestling, and jiu-jitsu.
Since five weeks ago, the practice of i’tikaf, usually performed during the holy month of Ramadaan, has been more regularly implemented at the mosque to keep the impressionable boys away from harm and in good company, according to the facilitators of the programme.
One of the youth leaders, Abubakr Rodrigues, said: “Every Friday night we have a programme at the masjid with the intention to bring changes within the community. This is a spiritual programme we have every Friday at the masjid. I saw the conditions of the youth’s houses.
“They’re maybe the only ones at the masjid in their whole household, and so for us to lose them, it’s going to be difficult.”
The programme has around 40 members, with the youngest just 8 years old and eldest around 30. In the first week, around 15 boys joined, which grew to between 25 and 30 boys. The programme comes at no cost for those joining.
The boys wake at 5am for tahajud or night prayers and perform the early morning prayer, first of five daily prayers, with frequent sittings of dhikr (devotional) and Qur’anic recitation.
The programme ends around 8-9am, after breakfast has been served.
“There are many youths who look up to the gangsters as role-models so that is also one of the reasons why we started this programme. Every Friday, we make dhikr and thereafter we relate to them stories of the sahabah, the companions of the prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). We relate to them stories of the young sahabah, how they were in their youth.
“With this intention, we want them to idolise these companions of the prophets, we don’t want them to idolise and look up to gangsters.”
Future plans for the programme include skills development workshops, with a call out made to the public for assistance in providing any upskilling for the youth.
“We are planning in the future to also have workshops and so forth to empower the youth not just spiritually but to empower them with a skill,” Rodrigues said.
On one occasion, when Rodrigues was unable to make it for the programme and subsequently cancelled it, a group of boys gathered at his home at around 9pm, gently pleading for the programme to take place.
“We lost many boys to gangsterism, we lost many boys to drugs, so we can’t afford to lose these youngsters. So this is something the boys look forward to and this is something that keeps them together.”
Rodrigues said it was important to try a different strategy in tackling social issues within the community, and to put more energy into youth initiatives.
“They are very excited because most of the time, they don’t have food at home, so we provide them with something to eat,” another executive member, Abu Hurairah Duncan, said.
“We already see changes in them because most of the boys in their household, the father and the mother, don’t make salaah, but what we implement in them, they practise it at home so the father and the mother start.”
One of the participants, Tameem Petersen, 20, said: “We come here purely just for our own spiritual benefit, to uplift ourselves every Friday.
“To give advice to one another and just come together to uplift one another.”
Hanover Park Community Policing Forum secretary Yaseen Johaar said there were approximately 22 gangs in Hanover Park, five major gangs and 17 smaller ones.
“The root causes of crime remain unaddressed. Despite the city investing over R500 000 monthly in policing technologies and needs in Hanover Park alone, crime persists. I firmly believe that redirecting this budget towards addressing the root causes of crime - including youth programmes, unemployment, and school dropouts - would significantly reduce gang recruitment and violence as a whole.”
To find out more about the programme or to assist, contact 081 428 5423.